In order to enhance an end user's appreciation of the quality of manufacture of an automotive vehicle, it is desired to mount the exterior decorative panels of the vehicle in an accurate manner that provides for flushness and consistent gaps between adjacent exterior body panels. The effecting of such accurate mounting can become a difficult task in the high volume manufacturing environment of the automotive industry. The exterior panels are typically formed as extremely large stampings or moldings and they must be fixed to internal structural members, often other massive stampings. The buildup of manufacturing tolerances between the associated underbody panels and exterior panels makes it necessary that there be a certain amount of adjustability in the final positioning of the exterior panels to provide the desired accurate mounting. This difficulty tends to be even more pronounced in larger vehicles such as medium and heavy trucks.
It is known in the prior art to provide such adjustability in the mechanical fixing of inner and outer body panels through the provision of elongated slots which cooperate with mechanical fasteners for setting the position of the exterior panel in relationship to the position of the fastener within the slot. U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,102 to Bien is exemplary of such approach. In the adjustable mounting arrangement of Bien, adjustable positioning longitudinal of the vehicle is permitted. It is also known to provide such slotting for vertical adjustable positioning of some surfaces.
Not taught or suggested in the prior art, however, is the provision of a mounting arrangement that provides for simple and economical adjustable positioning in a multiplicity of directions to ensure the most accurate positioning possible.